Posted April 25, 2016 8:59 am by Comments

By Garry James

50-70-centerfire-cartridges-1

Dating back to just after the Civil War, the .50-70 centerfire gained popularity with the military and sportsmen alike.

When most people think of an American military .50 caliber, the round that comes to mind (deservedly so) is the .50 BMG. It is one of the world’s great machine-gun and long-range sniping loads, adaptable to a number of different situations and in constant service since its introduction in 1918.

Still, it was far from being the first .50 round used by the U.S. For that we have to go back well over a century to the inception of the self-contained cartridge itself. In fact, there were various proprietary .50 cartridges used during the Civil War, such as the .50 rimfire in the Remington, Ball and Palmer Carbines (though it is doubtful that any saw actual service), and some externally primed paper and metallic rounds designed for other breechloaders like the Gallager, Smith and Maynard Carbines. After the Civil War ended, the .50-70 round came into being.

centerfire-50-70-cartridges-11

The .50-70 (center) was preceded by the .58 Rimfire (left) and succeeded by the .45-70 (right). Early military .50-70s, like the .45-70, were internally primed centerfires.

The development and widespread use of the .56-56 …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.